Meet Purbaya, the Minister of Manpower asks to prevent layoffs in the textile industry

Director General of Industrial Relations and Social Security of the Manpower Ministry Indah Anggoro Putri. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Manpower (Kemenaker) through the Director General of Industrial Relations and Labor Social Security, Indah Anggoro Putri, met with Minister of Finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa to prevent a wave of mass layoffs in the textile industry.

"Our main concern is that there should be no layoffs. If layoffs occur, workers can no longer be optimally protected by existing schemes," Indah said at the first hearing of the P2SP Task Force Debottlenecking, Tuesday, December 23.

Indah said the textile industry is still a major contributor to labor absorption. However, in reality, almost 80,000 workers in the sector were affected by layoffs.

Indah said this was quite different from President Prabowo Subianto's original intention to provide many incentives and facilities for the business world such as social security contributions for employment to the wage policy which was set directly by the President.

"With these various reliefs, it is hoped that layoffs can be avoided. If layoffs still occur, workers can no longer claim Job Loss Guarantee (JKP) optimally, so they risk not getting any protection," explained Indah.

On the other hand, Indah added that the country had actually prepared a JKP scheme that was considered good for protecting workers who lost their jobs.

However, he continued, the scheme will lose effectiveness if layoffs continue to occur massively.

"That is what we are concerned about," said Indah.